Anchorage Daily News

Things can go dreadfully wrong when teen actors play adult characters with teenagers of their own. Believability can topple out the window, along with the integrity of the script.

Alaska Theatre of Youth avoids these pitfalls through smart casting and solid production values in its current production of "Fiddler on the Roof."

In a play loaded with more than two dozen young actors, Blake Steenhoven carries a hefty weight as Tevye, the wise and compassionate father who attempts to sustain tradition during a period of upheaval.

Set in czarist Russia, 1905, "Fiddler" relies on Tevye as the lens through which understanding evolves. Here, Steenhoven shows poise through timing and understatement. He kept an even pace Thursday night, even when singing.

He and the rest of the cast ably performed songs like the playful "Matchmaker" and "If I Were a Rich Man" as well as the undeniably sweet "Do You Love Me?"

The youthfulness of the cast also did wonders for the dance scene. Needless to say, teenagers can handle squats and leaps a good deal more deftly than old folks.

But all those baby-faced boys onstage during the tavern scene created awkward moments. A boy can play a man with five daughters, a bum horse and a cart full of woes, but when he acts like he's had one too many, it just looks forced.

Yet, innocence in flux fits the material. "Fiddler" pits change against tradition, an open mind against an oppressive one, a single man against the tide of history. No matter how old the concept of marriage, people will always argue about who can marry whom and why.

ATY sticks to the basics, for sure, but not without a few mindful nudges. The actors use the aisles of the Sydney Laurence Theatre as paths for entering and exiting scenes, for example, and this creates a sense of intimacy.

At the same time, a simple, malleable set and costumes make the characters seem familiar and easy to like. Nothing new happens in this take on a popular musical, but newness runs through it anyway.

It's good to see young talent do old tricks.

Find Dawnell Smith online at adn.com/contact/dsmith or call 257-4587.

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